Stability and Boredom

Observing how rapidly trends change in the tech world is a truly fascinating experience! This social rollercoaster thrives on multiple fronts. No sooner had we adapted to DevOps as a revolution in workflows, and along came Platform Engineering to replace it. Surprised? You shouldn’t be - this is a classic case of the tech industry trying to fix interpersonal issues with technology. Predictably, it ends with something that looks slick in slides but, in practice, resembles pouring cheap wine into bottles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

DevOps was supposed to solve communication issues between development and operations teams. After all, the rallying cry “Let’s work better together!” never gets old. When chanted by thousands of worker bees, it must be gospel truth - because millions can’t be wrong, right? In reality, the attempt to align people were often clumsily replaced by tools, and organizational chaos was merely camouflaged with yet another layer of abstraction. The idea endured, but the term itself faded.

Then! In a sun-drenched office in Santa Clara, someone with a title like Technical Marketing Manager has an epiphany. And now, instead of DevOps, we have Platform Engineering, which - loosely translated - means, “Let’s return to the old division between developers and operations, but pretend it’s different this time.” If such an approach could be patented, it might be called Iterative Problem Rebranding. It’s a tale as old as time: a dog chasing its tail, a pendulum swinging back, the Ouroboros devouring itself to close the circle. The world loves a reheated cutlet under a new name.

Evidence for this theory can be found in the waning excitement over startup failures, giving way to a preference for stability. Slowly, we are shedding the illusion that the shine of glory brought by the mere popularity of solutions - solutions that often solve no problems but are just cool - is an end in itself. We’re entering a phase of boring, predictable, but profit-generating technological reality. Conferences are no longer dominated by starry-eyed developers but by maintenance specialists prioritizing things that work and don’t explode every other day. Because in boredom lies profit. Stable, repeatable processes are what companies with real customers, real budgets, and real profits prefer. In the era of DevOps startups, profit was often a distant hope buried in convoluted sales funnels that rarely materialized.

However, the greatest awakening in the industry is perhaps the realization that open source is no longer a magic mantra for everything. For years, one could pretend that popularity alone was enough to pay the bills. "Let’s do everything for free, and it’ll work out somehow"—this model is beginning to crack. Investors want returns, and users demand guarantees that the “free” software they downloaded won’t blow up their business. Open source may remain free to download, but its consequences won’t be.

Speaking of consequences, governments have finally noticed that technology is more than a geek’s basement toy. Cybersecurity is no longer optional, and regulations are beginning to remind us that if something is sold, it ought to work.

Is this good? For companies that have long avoided asking, “What exactly are we selling?” it might be a harsh wake-up call. But for the industry as a whole, it’s not the worst news. In an era when accountability for buggy code becomes enforceable, that code will demand greater care. Every hacking attack, every ransomware-crippled company, brings us closer to the days when “quality” wasn’t just a six-letter word.

However, don’t get too attached to Platform Engineering, because in a few years, it will be replaced by yet another rebranding. That’s how this world works: it spins in circles, giving old ideas new names. Meanwhile, we - the boring ones who like things that “just work” - can calmly watch as the next fad fades away. After all, what’s more boring than stability? And stability, dear readers, is the only trend that never goes out of style.